Research Areas
Land Management, Policy & InstitutionsCountries
Ethiopia, Rwanda, UgandaTimeline
Start Date: 15 June 2009 | End Date: 30 June 2010Overview
The overall objective of the project is to foster effective management of land resourcesfor sustainable production, income generation and food security in eastern Africa.
The purpose is to enhance the capacity of rural institutions in addressing land degradation for increased productivity through land stewardship.This project aims at fostering collective action, and learning to enhance the capacity of rural institutions-in addressing land degradation amongst smallholder farming communities.
Landcare is a social mobilization approach where people can collectively work together to address common local problems that would improve their livelihoods and the environment. Landcare provides a platform for smallholders-a grassroots structure for empowerment of local farming communities. It emphasizes multi-stakeholder partnerships, with strong support from the local government to enable technological innovation and link better land management practices to livelihood and enterprise options. Through this approach, local communities will be empowered to effectively manage land resources for sustainable production, income generation and food security. It is a grassroots approach with high potential to contribute towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in Africa, as well as providing a knowledge-based and inclusive process for addressing critical land management and livelihood challenges in the region. In many countries where Landcare is active, it has demonstrated that sustainable land management and livelihood objectives can be simultaneously achieved through effective multi-stakeholder partnerships, collective action and a sustained process of learning in the context of informed environmental governance.
The outcomes of this project are;
(i) Viable grassroots institutions incorporating gender concerns for sustainable land management (SLM) developed,
(ii) Principles and practices of Landcare promoted, appreciated and main streamed in various developmental initiatives,
(iii) Linkages between grassroots communities and district, national and regional level institutions engaged in SLM built and strengthened,
(iv) Adoption of innovative land management strategies enhanced; and
(v) Knowledge and communication products for Landcare developed and disseminated.
